WASHINGTON — The FBI will help Texas track down Democratic state lawmakers who have fled to other parts of the country in a collective effort to thwart Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts, Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn said on Thursday.

It was not clear precisely how federal agents might become involved, and legal experts expressed skepticism that they would have any legitimate role to play. A spokesperson for Cornyn referred questions to the FBI, which declined to comment.

The lawmakers, who have been open about their whereabouts, have not been charged with any state or federal crimes. Earlier this week, the Republican speaker of the Texas House of Representatives issued civil warrants for the absent Democrats – most of whom have gone to Democratic-led states including Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, in part to escape Texas jurisdiction – to be brought back to Austin.

But the warrants apply only within the state and are based on House rules, not criminal law.

“Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats,” Cornyn said in a statement, referring to the FBI director. “We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities.”

JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, has brushed off the idea that the FBI could be deployed to round up legislators in his state, calling it “grandstanding” and warning that state troopers “protect everybody in Illinois.”

Professor Says Enlisting the FBI to Arrest Is ‘Unlawful Abuse of Power’

Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, said enlisting the FBI to arrest the lawmakers would be an “unlawful abuse of power” because no federal crimes have been committed.

“There is no legitimate role for the FBI here,” he said. “These legislators have not committed an offense against the United States, nor are they fugitives from justice who are likely to commit a federal crime.”

More than 50 Democrats from the Texas legislature left the state ahead of Monday’s legislative session, denying Republicans a quorum necessary to vote on the redistricting plan that has been championed by President Donald Trump.

The rare mid-decade redistricting is intended to flip five Democratic seats in next year’s midterm elections, when Republicans will defend their razor-thin majority in the U.S. House.

The Texas fight has spread to other states, with the balance of power in Washington at stake. Democratic governors in states including California, Illinois and New York have threatened to redraw their own congressional maps to counteract Texas; Republicans in Florida, Missouri and Ohio are also expected to consider new maps.

Texas Gov. Says Democrats Raising Money Could Violate Laws

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has suggested that Democrats who raise money to help pay for fines levied due to their absence could be violating state bribery laws that prohibit officials from accepting money in exchange for avoiding their duties.

In a letter to Patel on Tuesday urging the FBI to assist the state’s local law enforcement in tracking the absent Democrats down, Cornyn wrote that he feared “legislators who solicited or accepted funds to aid in their efforts to avoid their legislative duties may be guilty of bribery or other public corruption offenses.”

The FBI has tools to help state law enforcement when parties cross state lines to flee “a scene of a crime,” Cornyn wrote.

Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan Law School professor and former U.S. Attorney, said talk of involving the FBI appeared to be saber-rattling.

“Although federal agents do have authority to assist local law enforcement officials in tracking down fugitives, that requires a filed criminal charge,” she said.

David Froomkin, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said Abbott’s threat was an “egregious violation of the separation of powers” and called the bribery theory “laughably weak.” He noted that the Texas Supreme Court has previously ruled that legislators are legally permitted to break quorum.

“If there’s no legal duty, then there’s no criminal bribery,” he said.

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(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Joseph Ax and Jack Queen; Editing by Scott Malone, Frank McGurty and Deepa Babington)